Hearthside Food Solutions Opens 4th European Nutritional Bar Facility and Doubles Boise Nutritional Bar Capacity

Hearthside Food Solutions (“Hearthside”) today announced the opening of their fourth European nutritional bar production facility and also the doubling of nutritional bar capacity in their Boise, Idaho bar operation. Both expansions were completed ahead of schedule and in response to continued strong market growth in nutritional bars.

Hearthside, the acknowledged leader in nutritional bar formulation and production in North America and Europe, operates 25 full-service production facilities, 13 of which produce bars. The company also operates a network of internal R&D facilities, food labs, test kitchens and pilot lines providing innovation, formulation, concepts, and recipes.

Nutritional bars, which include protein bars, sports nutrition bars, meal replacement bars, functional bars, and diet bars are characterized by complex ingredients, formulations, and recipes.

The new European nutritional bar facility is located on Hearthside’s Leerdam, Netherlands manufacturing and R&D campus. The high-capacity facility increases Hearthside’s European nutritional bar capacity by over 40%. This facility also leverages Hearthside’s extensive European bar formulation lab and the over 3,000 proprietary nutritional bar recipes in the Hearthside bar catalog.

The company also announced the doubling of production capacity at their Boise nutritional bar formulation and production facility. First acquired in 2015, the 185,000 sq. ft. location, previously a Nestle / Power Bar facility, was one of several strategic acquisitions that have expanded Hearthside’s nutritional bar presence.

“We have over 53 food scientists, commercialization and innovation support specialists in our R&D and innovation group. Our continued aggressive investment in R&D, product innovation, recipe development and nutrition innovation has fueled our nutritional bar growth in North America and Europe,” said Rich Scalise, Hearthside Chairman and CEO. “These capacity increases enable us to meet our customers’ ever-increasing nutritional bar volume and formulation needs.”

Based on industry data, the overall bar segment is estimated at $2.9B with nutritional bars representing $1.8B and growing at an 11% CAGR. This makes nutritional bars the largest and fastest growing portion of the overall bar category.

“Performing at World-Class bar production standards sets us apart, but it is only part of the story,” said Dwayne Hughes, Hearthside SVP Supply Chain. “Seamlessly melding our R&D, nutrition, formulation, product innovation and commercialization capabilities into our manufacturing processes enables our customers to bring superior products to market faster. We drive quality, innovation, and speed-to-market.”

Both the new European production facility and the Boise capacity expansion are now fully staffed and operational.

Founded in 2009 in Downers Grove, IL, Hearthside Food Solutions is the industry’s largest bar producer and the leading full-service contract manufacturer of high quality, grain-based food, snack products and packaging for some of the world’s leading premier brands. Hearthside operates 25 full-service production facilities in the US and Europe, as well as internal R&D centers and product innovation labs. For more information, visit www.hearthsidefoods.com.